Browse Data and Analysis

On July 11, 2024, China notified draft National Food Safety Standard Food Additive Dibutyl Hydroxytoluene (BHT) to the World Trade Organization (WTO) under G/SPS/N/CHN/1306.

The report details the Department of Agriculture's regulation on the criteria, methods, and conditions for certifying genome-edited plants. This regulation enables Thailand to access new plant varieties, enhancing the country’s ability to address food security and climate change challenges.

Over the last decade, with investments in domestic port infrastructure and storage and owing to Turkiye’s deeper integration in regional and global trade networks, the country has become a major hub for transshipped agricultural products, such as oilseeds, grain, pulses, tree nuts, and juice.

The South African Department of Agriculture is in the process of finalizing requirements related to “control management systems,” which may include additional requirements of documentation to support label claims for imported food products.

Turkiye’s cherry production for marketing year (MY) 2024/25 is forecast down from last year’s record, but is still the third largest on the books. Despite the contraction in production, cherry exports are forecast to hit an all-time high as growers prioritize sales abroad since it’s more profitable then selling on the local market.

On July 19, 2024, the South African government published a new sugar import tariff of R1,093 per metric ton (US$60.09/MT). This tariff change was triggered by a downward trend in global sugar prices and will apply to sugar imported into the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU).

This year’s apple harvest is expected to be 197,000 MT, slightly lower than last year’s numbers and the lowest in a decade. Pear production is set to drop by around nine percent, with a total of 327,000 MT. The decrease in pear harvest is mostly due to tough growing conditions throughout the season, leading to fewer fruits per tree. When it comes to the land being harvested, apple acreage is shrinking further, down to about 5,220 hectares.

China notified the National Food Safety Standard: Cooked Meat Products (draft for comments) to the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures as G/SPS/N/CHN/1313 on July 11, 2024.

On July 11, 2024, China notified draft Measures for Supervision and Administration of Quarantine for Entry and Exit Medicinal Materials to the World Trade Organization (WTO) under G/SPS/N/CHN/1314.

On August 21, 2024, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) announced that it had initiated an anti-subsidy (i.e., countervailing duty or CVD) investigation on imports of certain dairy products originating from the European Union.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), representing 9,000 unionized workers at Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd (CPKC), officially walked off the job at midnight Eastern time on Thursday, August 22, reportedly marking the first time that simultaneous stoppages have occurred for Canada’s two major rail lines.

FAS/Sofia has revised downward its estimate for Bulgaria’s MY 2024/25 corn crop to 2.2 million metric tons (MMT), which if realized would be the smallest crop in over a decade. This is due to severe summer heat and drought in July and in early August.